Oldest "Human" Skeleton Found--Disproves "Missing Link
source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-ardipithecus-ramidus-ardi-oldest-huma...
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Scientists today announced the discovery of the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor. The find reveals that our forebears underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million years before Lucy, the iconic early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago.
The centerpiece of a treasure trove of new fossils, the skeleton—assigned to a species called Ardipithecus ramidus—belonged to a small-brained, 110-pound (50-kilogram) female nicknamed "Ardi." (See pictures of Ardipithecus ramidus.)
The fossil puts to rest the notion, popular since Darwin's time, that a chimpanzee-like missing link—resembling something between humans and today's apes—would eventually be found at the root of the human family tree. Indeed, the new evidence suggests that the study of chimpanzee anatomy and behavior—long used to infer the nature of the earliest human ancestors—is largely irrelevant to understanding our beginnings.
Ardi instead shows an unexpected mix of advanced characteristics and of primitive traits seen in much older apes that were unlike chimps or gorillas (interactive: Ardi's key features). As such, the skeleton offers a window on what the last common ancestor of humans and living apes might have been like.
Announced at joint press conferences in Washington, D.C., and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the analysis of the Ardipithecus ramidus bones will be published in a collection of papers tomorrow in a special edition of the journal Science, along with an avalanche of supporting materials published online.
"This find is far more important than Lucy," said Alan Walker, a paleontologist from Pennsylvania State University who was not part of the research. "It shows that the last common ancestor with chimps didn't look like a chimp, or a human, or some funny thing in between."
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AntiquatedTory
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It seems like a fairly overblown media article about the discovery. You'd think National Geographic could keep a level head but no. Every damn hominid fossil is now "more important than Lucy."
This is what we actually know about A. ramidus, courtesy of John Wilkins:1. It may be a human ancestor or it may not. We do not know.
2. It had relatively little sexual dimorphism like humans.
3. It walked on two legs, but not well, and probably lived in woodlands.
4. It ate fruit and some meat.
5. It’s not another frigging missing link.
6. It doesn’t overturn evolutionary theories (it refines and adjusts them as new evidence).
That is all…
- 2 years ago
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AntiquatedTory
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remanns
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-heh-
- 2 years ago
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remanns
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echoz
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and here's how they spauned. ;)~
- 2 years ago
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echoz
